Rent Megalopolis (2024)

Big Bloated Glossy Blob of Muddled Mediocrity - with an all-star cast - Megalopolis review by PV

I almost turned this off after 30 minutes. It's that sort of film.

Very confused, expensive, glossy spectacle, this is, interesting rather than enjoyable.

I felt NO emotional connection with ANy character - a problem when an audience has to care about characters when good or bad stuff happens to them.

Some great-looking scenes, a couple of shocks and twists. But the plot all seems very pointless.

Nice to see Giancarlo Esposito who shone so bright in Breaking Bad, and real movie stars too, like Dustin Hoffman, looking very doddery but then he is 87.

Not sure if it is meant to be a satire on the USA and Trump, but if so, it fails.

Watch GLADIATOR instead of 1964's CLEOPATRA or maybe THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Or goodie-v-baddie sci-fi like Star Wars.

1.5 stars rounded up.

Disastrous, overblown, unwatchable - Megalopolis review by Alphaville

To be charitable, this is a bit of a mess. To be truthful, it’s a complete mess. Yes, it really is as bad as you’ve heard. All 2.15hrs of it. A waste of talent for all concerned, not just legendary director Coppola, but legendary actors such as Dustin Hoffman. Even young lead Adam Driver, for no reason whatsoever, is reduced at one stage to attempting Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ speech. The idea being preached here is that modern-day New York is like ancient Rome heading for the Fall. The preachiness extends as far as a repetitive and irritating voiceover to ram it home.

What about the plot? You mean, there’s a plot? There have been many disastrous vanity projects in the history of the cinema. This is right up there among them. Oh, Francis, that it should come to this. Has he become so untouchable that no-one somewhere along the line could have had a quiet word in his ear?

Incomprehensible Mess - Megalopolis review by GI

Francis Ford Coppola's passion piece, one he's been planning since the 80s, is an overblown, boring and weird to the point of being an incomprehensible mess. The art deco look of this alternative and/or futuristic look at America is interesting but the narrative that tries to replicate the Catiline plots of Ancient Rome is pretentious and dull. There are many moments when you have to try and unravel what's going on and eventually you just give up. Adam Driver, who seems very self conscious here, plays Cesar, a renowned architect in a New York now renamed New Rome. He has a vision for a new city using a building material he has discovered that also gives him some power over time. There's a conflict amongst the privileged class that is the main focus of the plot and involves such acting talents as Aubrey Plaza (who is the best thing on offer here), Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Giancarlo Esposito, Laurence Fishburne, Nathalie Emmanuel and Dustin Hoffman and a few more. There's a surreal Lynchian element going on and at times I thought I was watching a Wes Anderson film and I suppose it could be argued that a Coppola failure outshines some successes by lesser directors but this is a high production bloated waste of time.